PSNH: Schiller air-quality study is flawed

ELIOT, Maine — A representative from Public Service of New Hampshire on Tuesday night alleged a Sierra Club study that triggered a referendum question targeting a coal power plant across the river was flawed and politically motivated.

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By Joey Cresta

seacoastonline.com

By Joey Cresta

Posted May. 29, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Joey Cresta

Posted May. 29, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

ELIOT, Maine — A representative from Public Service of New Hampshire on Tuesday night alleged a Sierra Club study that triggered a referendum question targeting a coal power plant across the river was flawed and politically motivated.

Dick Despins, station manager at PSNH's Schiller Station in Portsmouth, N.H., spoke against Eliot referendum Question 2 during a public information session regarding the ballot issues voters will be deciding during the municipal election June 11.

Question 2 asks whether the town should petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the authority of the "Good Neighbor" provisions of the Federal Clean Air Act to investigate and make findings concerning possible adverse effects on the town's air quality and public health as a result of emissions from Schiller Station.

"We actually welcome a legitimate review of our operations," said Despins, who manages the station along the banks of the Piscataqua River that includes three boilers, including two that can burn coal or oil. However, Despins claimed the study by the environmental organization Sierra Club that prompted the question contains inaccurate information.

Despins said the Sierra Club's study included some false assumptions, such as measuring the plant's pollution output as if its units were turned on "full throttle" 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"That's like putting the pedal to the metal on our vehicles around the clock for 365 days," he said. "That's not an accurate representation of our operations."

Proponents of the referendum question, including Kimberly Richards, a South Eliot resident and local leader of the initiative, said the petition would simply flag for the EPA the importance of conducting a new study of emissions at Schiller Station, particularly its sulfur dioxide output that she and others in town worry is polluting Eliot's air. She said that if sulfur dioxide levels were elevated, and Schiller Station was found to be the major contributing source, it could be required to fix the problem.

Despins said Schiller Station operates in full compliance with all permits and laws, and all air-monitoring data in the region confirms sulfur dioxide emissions have not exceeded what is allowed within the last 10 years. He noted an air monitoring station at Peirce Island in Portsmouth has collected more than 20,000 data points since a new emissions standard went into effect in 2010, and "there hasn't been a single hour above the new standard."

However, residents pointed out that Peirce Island is 2 miles due south of the station and there has been no air monitoring in Eliot, where the predominantly northwesterly and southwesterly winds would be blowing any air pollution.

Residents questioned why PSNH is so apprehensive about the petition when Despins claimed it has consistently been in compliance with the standards. He said PSNH has a right and an obligation to employees and customers to "protect our interest" against an initiative prompted by an environmental organization that has promoted a national campaign to eliminate coal-fired plants.

"You're putting faith in a modeling report that is inaccurate," he said. "We are going to have to defend our operations against any politically-motivated action that's intended to impact our operations."

Some asked why PSNH has spent money on an advertising campaign seeking to defeat the referendum question. Peter Egelston, an Eliot resident and owner of the Portsmouth Brewery, said he was on the fence about the vote until he received a mailer paid for by PSNH shareholders opposing the petition.

The mailer cites a letter from Eliot Town Attorney Robert Crawford to the Board of Selectmen in November describing a "potentially complex" legal process and warning that the town "must carefully consider if they are prepared to fund a defense" if the petition passes.

"I believe that the people, the residents of Eliot, want answers of what's blowing across the river into our community," Egelston said. "I'm looking at this (mailer), and it's really scary."

Also at Tuesday night's meeting, which was attended by about 40 people, residents received information about other questions on the ballot, including the controversial Route 236 tax increment financing district sewer expansion project and a proposal to adopt the town manager form of government.

Look for follow-up stories on those topics later this week in the Portsmouth Herald and on Seacoastonline.com.